Building bridges takes time, but it’s great when you can finally walk across them.

For the past two years a student group from Luxembourg has been communicating with a group from Cotter and this process culminated in the Luxembourgers coming to the U.S. and spending time in Winona and at Cotter with host families. 15 students and two of their teachers traveled to the U.S. and spent two weeks staying with 9 Cotter families.  Cotter English teacher, Paul Schmitt, who has some Luxembourgish heritage, was Cotter’s coordinator for the project.

“After corresponding virtually for two years with students and teachers from Ecole Privée Fieldgen in Luxembourg, we finally welcomed them to the United States!,” Mr. Schmitt said.

The Cotter students whose families were hosts are planning to go to Luxembourg in June and stay in the home of the students they hosted.

Last year Cotter students were asked if they were in interested in the project and after forming the group, they held zoom meetings with the Luxembourg students. The Luxembourg school year starts and ends later than Cotter’s schedule, so it was determined that the group would come to the U.S. in August and early September and the Winona students would travel in June, prior to Luxembourg’s summer break.

En route to Winona, the Luxembourg group spent time in Chicago, seeing the city and attending a baseball game.

When they arrived in Winona there were a number of planned, large group activities and also time for hanging out with their host families. They attended Cotter classes, went to a home football game, visited the Luxembourg museum in Rolllingstone, went to Wisconsin Dells, the MN State Fair and Mall of America, and also had time to hit local coffee shops and walk around the lake or go on the river with their hosts.

The trip was a great success, with both guests and hosts enjoying the experience and the student and host pairings worked out well.

“Everyone was super nice and Winona is a very peaceful town and had a good vibe,” said one of the Luxembourg group leaders.

” I was so glad to play the trombone in band and  come to Cotter and experiencing American culture, ” Anna, one of the students, said.

“I loved the Wisconsin Dells, the baseball game in Chicago, and the Cotter football game,” Eva said.  Other students mentioned the ghost tour, the Ducks ride, and the experience of staying in an American household as highlights of the trip.  The also noted the beautiful scenery around Winona and some interesting architecture they encountered.

There were also a few challenges: the travel schedule, overpacking, getting comfortable with their hosts, but, that said, the challenges or downsides were pretty minimal.

Preparations  for the return trip in June will be happening over the next few months. The group hopes to spend two weeks in Luxembourg and one week travel to countries around Luxembourg.